


Can't Get Hurt Again

by BenjiWrites



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Feelings, Feels, First Kiss, Literal Sleeping Together, Sharing a Bed, Sleeping Together, Talking, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:03:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29822577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BenjiWrites/pseuds/BenjiWrites
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome end up sharing Kagome's bed and talking about their feelings.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Can't Get Hurt Again

“Can’t you hurry up and finish studying already?”

Kagome clenched her teeth, trying not to yell as she repeated the same thing she had been saying to him over and over all day. “I have a test tomorrow, so we’re not leaving until tomorrow afternoon. Just be quiet so I can focus.”

Inuyasha harumped. “This is so stupid,” he muttered. “What do you even need school for anyway? It’s not like it’s going to help us find the Sacred Jewel shards or beat Naraku or anything.”

Kagome had had enough. Swiveling her chair around to face Inuyasha, she yelled, “Sit!” The enchanted necklace immediately responded, pulling him down roughly on the bed. He leapt back up, laughing at how that hadn’t hurt. With a frustrated cry, Kagome whirled back around to face her desk, shoved her headphones in, and turned up her music to drown out any other stupid remarks Inuyasha wanted to make in the future.

Now that she couldn’t hear Inuyasha huffing and complaining every five minutes, she allowed herself to fall into her work. Finally, she wrote the last few strokes of kanji in her notebook, then snapped it shut, stretching out her sore muscles. Her eyes widened when they fell on her bedside clock; it was well after midnight, and she had to get to school early the next day to give Hojo his notes back.

Turning to the bed, Kagome expected to see Inuyasha sitting there, arms folded and eyes bright, ready to say something snotty like always. Instead, she found him stretched out on the bed, fast asleep. She paused, gazing at his face, marveling at how peaceful he looked in his sleep. Kagome hadn’t seen Inuyasha sleep too much; more often than not, Kagome fell asleep before Inuyasha and woke up after him. She could only imagine it was because traveling miles every day and fighting demons tired out humans and half demons differently. Kagome wondered how much sleep half-demons really needed.

Inuyasha shifted in his sleep. He sighed, then murmured something, but it was too quiet for Kagome to hear, although she did hear that whatever it was, it started with a K.

Her heart pounded. Her name started with K. Was it Kagome? Was he saying her name in his sleep. A giggly excitement billowed up inside her until the next thought jumped into her mind.

Kikyo’s name also started with K. Could he be saying her name?

Kagome felt her heart sink, a tsunami of sadness rising over her. She shook her head, trying to chase the thoughts away. She couldn’t let thoughts of something that she wasn’t even sure was happening overwhelm her. She didn’t know if Inuyasha was saying Kikyo’s name, or her’s for that matter. He could have said any work that began with K. Like cake, which started with a C but made a K sound. Inuyasha did like the cake her mother would give him anytime he visited. 

A large yawn pulled Kagome from her thoughts. None of this mattered right now; what mattered was going to bed. All that studying would have been for nothing if she was too tired to keep her eyes open in the morning. She started to turn to her closet to get the futon out, only to remember that Buyo had ripped it to shreds and her mother hadn’t bought a new one yet. It seemed she would have to share the bed with Inuyasha.

Luckily, Inuyasha was already sleeping on one half of the bed, his back pressed against the wall, so she wouldn’t have to wake him up to tell him to move over, but she would have to wake him up if she wanted to sleep under the covers. Kagome looked into Inuyasha’s sleeping, peaceful face and knew she couldn’t wake him; he was going through a lot, all the time, and it was rare for him to just be resting instead of fighting or on guard.

Reaching out, Kagome gently slipped Tessaiga from his grip and laid it on the floor. Resolved in her decision, Kagome laid down on the bed beside Inuyasha and turned off the light, trying to find a comfortable position in the dark. Her bed was a single, making it small enough on its own, but it was even smaller now that there was another person in it. She adjusted her position, trying not to wake Inuyasha, until she found the only position that seemed to work; lying on her side, away from Inuyasha. She felt acutely aware of the fact that if she scooted back a few inches, her back would be pressed against Inuyasha’s chest.

A slight shiver ran over her body, but she ignored it. She faced much worse each night she slept out in the woods in the feudal era.

Inuyasha stirred. As though he could feel her shivering, even in his sleep, Inuyasha inched closer until their bodies were touching. He folded himself into her, pressing his legs to her legs and his chest against her back. He sleepily draped an arm around her waist, let out a contented sigh, then stilled.

Kagome smiled, enjoying the feeling of Inuyasha’s warmth around her. This was definitely better than any blanket. Sleepily, she shut her eyes, and, within moments, was asleep.

~ ~ ~

Inuyasha slowly moved from sleeping to wakefulness. It had been so long since he had been able to sleep like this; he was all too used to his sleep being disturbed by the arrival of demons. He floated in the space between conscious and unconscious, reveling in the warmth and peace of the feeling. As his mind moved towards wakefulness, he gradually became aware of his body--and the sense that something wasn’t exactly right. It took him a moment before he realized what it was; instead of being the hard, thin body of the Tessaiga as he was used to, his arms were wrapped around the warm, soft body of--

_Kagome?!_

His eyes snapped open. It was still dark, but the moonlight filtering through the window cast everything in Kagome’s room in a silvery glow. Kagome lay in his arms, turned away from him, her inky blue black hair inches from his face. This close, the scent of her lavender shampoo was almost completely overpowering to his sensitive nose. He frowned. He hated it when she came home and took baths with all those silly smelling soaps and oils and stuff. He liked it much better in his time, when Kagome smelled more like herself.

Inuyasha’s nose twitched. If this kept up, he was going to end up sneezing and waking up Kagome. He needed some other smell to get the lavender out of his nose. His eyes landed on a bare patch of skin exposed by her neck; he dipped his head closer to have better access to Kagome’s natural, comforting smell.

Kagome shifted in his arms. Inuyasha froze, hoping she would just go back to sleep. Instead, she rolled over and slowly blinked her eyes open. Inuyasha suddenly became very aware of how close their bodies were pressed together, how Kagome’s face lay next to his on the pillow only inches away.

“I-I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” said Kagome. 

Inuyasha thought about getting up so that Kagome could have her bed back, but before he could, she was nuzzling closer, laying her head on his chest. He desperately hoped she couldn’t hear how hard his heart was pounding. Kagome was quiet for so long, he thought she had fallen back to sleep.

“What’s it like being in love?”

“W-what?”

Kagome looked up at him. “You love Kikyo, don’t you? So what’s being in love like?”

Inuyasha’s face burned. Why was Kagome asking that? He didn’t feel like talking about feelings that he was uncertain about with someone who he also had uncertain feelings about. But it was clear Kagome was waiting for an answer, so he did his best.

“It’s...great. And terrible. There’s one person who you feel like understands you in a way that no one else does, and it feels so good. But because that person knows you in ways others don’t, that means they can hurt you in a way others can’t.”

“And Kikyo...hurts you?”

Inuyasha shrugged. “I guess you could say that.”

“...do I hurt you?”

Inuyasha’s eyes flicked to hers, wet and shining. “No, of course not,” he said. “Kagome, what’s this about?”

She shook her head. “Nothing, I’m being silly.”

Even though she didn’t say it, Inuyasha could guess what was on her mind, especially if it was about Kikyo. In many ways, it was general knowledge that there was something between the two of them, but that something was like a bomb; something that they were scared to handle because they knew if they did it wrong it could hurt both of them. But, if left alone, it could also go off. Either way, something was going to give way at some point.

“Kagome,” he said. “I can’t--”

“And I’m not asking you to do anything,” she cut him off. “I’ve always known that you love Kikyo. You told me about her the first day we met. I find it really admirable the way you still love her, actually. She’s betrayed and hurt you so many times and yet you still won’t give up on her.” Kagome took a shaky breath. “I just hope that I can find someone who loves me as much one day.”

Kagome ducked her head, trying to hide the tears that were slowly starting to drip down her cheeks. Inuyasha tightened his arms around her, hating that he was the reason she was crying.

“I wish that I could,” he whispered. “But I can’t. I want to so badly, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Kagome demanded. “If you’re going to say that, then I at least deserve to know why.”

“I--” he started, then stopped. He swallowed, then tried again. “Everything bad that’s ever happened to Kikyo happened because I loved her.”

Kagome shook her head. “No, Inuyasha, that wasn’t your fault. Naraku’s been manipulating you two, you know that.”

“And if I hadn’t been there, there wouldn’t have been anyone to manipulate. I shouldn’t have fallen in love with her. I should have just stolen that Sacred Jewel and become a demon. Then none of this would have happened.” Inuyasha looked down at Kagome.

“Then none of this would have ever happened,” she repeated.

Inuyasha felt a stab at his heart as he realized the weight of what he had just said. In this fantasy where he saved Kikyo by never falling in love with her, he was also sacrificing everything that came after, which included Kagome. Had he seriously just insinuated that he would rather have Kikyo safe and have never met Kagome at all?

No.

Something about that seemed solid, concrete. If someone had told him that if he gave up Kagome they could undo everything that had happened to Kikyo, there would be no way he could do it. So did that mean he was instead picking Kagome over Kikyo?

“You’re the one good thing that came out of everything that’s happened,” he said. “I don’t know where I would be without you.”

“I do,” said Kagome, wiping a tear from her cheek. “You’d still be stuck to that tree.”

Laughing, Inuyasha said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He paused, then said. “I guess what I mean is that the last person who I loved is still dealing with the consequences of it. I don’t want that for you.”

Kagome gazed into his eyes. “But what if I want that for me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been around you long enough to know the types of trouble you come with--and I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“No,” said Inuyasha. “No, I can’t. If I do, then Naraku or Sesshomaru or some other demon is going to come and hurt you, or--”

Kagome put a hand over his mouth. “You’re so worried about protecting others that you forget someone needs to protect you, too.”

She gently pulled back her hand, tilting her head back so she could fully look at him. He gazed into her eyes and, without really being aware of what he was doing, dipped his head down towards hers. Their foreheads met, then their noses, their lips drawing closer and closer together. Inuyasha paused; this was it. He could stop, take it all back, keep things the way they were, pretend none of this ever happened. Or, he could do the one thing he’d been thinking about doing for as long as he could remember.

It didn’t matter what decision he made because he was already kissing Kagome, already caressing her face, already pulling her closer. It was like a dam had burst and now that he had started, he couldn’t stop.

Eventually, though, they did.

“I love you,” Kagome sighed, snuggling into him once again.

There was a long silence. Inuyasha buried his face into Kagome’s hair, not minding the lavender scent as much now. “I love you, too,” he said quietly, but he knew Kagome had heard him when he felt her smile against his chest. Within minutes, she was asleep again and Inuyasha was left feeling that, finally, he might have made one good choice in his life.


End file.
